Grading and marking machine



5 Sheets-Sheet l July 13 1926.

' L A COGSWELL GRADING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed April 29. 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Iil 29. 1924 L. A. COGSWELL GRADING AND MARKING MACHINE 1,592,295 L. A. COGSWELL GRADING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed April 29. 1924 5 {meets-Sheet 5 L. A. COGSWELL GRADING AND MARKING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 29. "1924 ie d/2Q? July 13 1926.

. 1,592,295 L. A. coGswELL GRADING AND MARKING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 29, 1924 learn kw Q @9 i Patented July 13, 1926.

; UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEANDER A. CO GSWELL. OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO; LACENE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF.MANCHESTEB, HAMPSHIRE, A CORPORA- TION OF MAINE.

GRADING AND MARKING MACHINE.

Application filed April 29, 1924. Serial No. 709,844.

Tanned hides of beeves for use in the manufacture of boots and shoes, and for other purposes, are customarily cut into a number of parts in a manner more or less uniformly established by usage in the trade, and to each part trade usage has given a name. A side of leather is half a whole hide. cut-in two along the middle line or back bone; a belly is the lower part of the side removed and is about five to twelve inches in width and extends from the butt end of the side to the brisket; a shoulder, which may or may not include the head is the forward part of the side, extending back to the break which is directly over the shoulder blade, back of the shoulder wrin kles; and a bend is that part of the side from which the belly, shoulder and head have been removed. a 1

The most valuable part of the leather, and

' that from which the best grades of cut soles are made, is the bend, and the principal object of the present invention is to measure and grade bendsaccording to thickness. 1 will therefore describe an embodiment of the invention in,a machine particularly designed for measuring and grading bends, but it will be understood that the invention is also applicable to measuring and grading other parts of the hide, and other materials.

The leather in a bend usually varies .in thickness five or six irons, or even more, but although no two bends areexactly alike, the approximate average thickness or average iron may be determined sufliciently for the purpose of classification of the bend, by measuring the bend for thickness at a definite spot which .hasbeen selected and established by at least certain manufacturers, and by the Government for certain purposes. This selected spot is about twenty-six inches forward from the root of the tail and about two and one-fourth inches in from the cut edge which was at the middle of the hide Fig. 1 is a front elevation partly in section of a leather measuring and stamping machine constructed in accordance with my invention, certain parts being omitted for the sake of clearness;

Fig. 2 is a plan and section view of the machine on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged front elevation of the working parts of the machine, certain parts being broken away;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the parts of the machine shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a partial section on the line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a detail of the stamping wheel;

Fig. 7 is an elevation of the machine, in section on line 7-7 of Fig. 3 viewed in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 8 is a rear elevation of the machine, parts being broken away; and

Fig. 9 is a detail of the clutch hereinafter referred to.

The embodiment of my invention herein illustrated comprises awork rest 1 supported from the floor bya frame 2. Near one end of the frame and at the rear of the work rest 1, is an upright 3 having rigidly connected to it a forwardly extendon the cross head 4 is a carriage 5 equipped at its lower end with an adjustable marker in the form of a rotatable stamping wheel 6, provided upon its periphery with type characters 7, one or another of which is impressed upon the piece of leather when the. machine is operated as presently to be described. This wheel 6 is fast on one end of a shaft 8 journalled in a bearing provided at the lower end of the carriage 5, and at its opposite end this shaft carries a pinion 9 in mesh' with a rack on segment 10 which is pivoted at 11 to the upper end of the carriage 5. a link 12 with an arm 13 fast on a bar 13 which is mounted to slide .horizontally in cross head 4 and upright 3. Slide bar 13 has fast on it an abutment block 14 cc operating with a pin 15 provided at the freeend of an arm 16 fast on a shaft 17. This-shaft '17 is journalled in a bracket 18 secured to the top side of the cross head 4, and has fast on it a pinion 19in engage ment with a rack 20 provided upon one side- Segment 10 is connected by- 1 5) secure 'to 'one side of the carriage 5,

said latch engaginga shoulder 27 provided on an arm 28 fast to the upper end of the feeler 21.

(Io-operating with thelatch 25 1s a dog 29 pivotally mounted upon the upper end of a lever 30 that is fulcrumed at 31 (Fig. 7) on bracket 18. Lever 30hasa downwardly extending arm 32 projecting through a slot 33, (Fig. 2) provided in the work rest'l. This arm- 32 of lever 30 is normally held against the front end of slot 33 by a spring 34, (Fig. 7).

When a bend of leather B is placed in position upon the work rest 1, as indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 1, 2 and 7, and is then shovededgewise inwardly so as -to swing the lever 32, on its fulcrum 31, the dog 29 at the upper end of lever'30 Wlll engage the latch 25 and move the latter on its supporting bracket 26 out of engagement with the arm 28 of feeler 21. Thereupon the spring 24, acting through the lever 22, will thrust the, feeler 21 more or less forcibly downward into detecting engagement against 35 the bend B, lying upon the work rest 1.

During this downward movement of feeler 21 it acts through the pinion 19 to swing the arm 16 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 7, an angular distance determined by the thickness of the bend B. This ,movement of the arm 16 together with is pin 15 is accompanied by a movement in the same direction of the block 14 and slide 13 under the influence of a spring 35 (Fig. '7), one end of .which is connected tothe frame of the machine, and the other end to the block 14. This endwise movement of the slide 13 acts through the link 12 and segment 10 to rotate the stamping Wheel 6 for bringing into stamping position the character appropriate to the thickness as measured by the feeler 21. Thus, it will be seen, the selected spot of the material is measured and the marker set or adjusted in response to the operation of the feeler and in accordance with the thickness detection, while the marker is held elevated in inoperative position, and these actions are effected automatically by the mere insertion of the material into the machine. Having placed the bend upon work rest 1 and shoved the same inwardly as described to effect the measuring and stamp adjusting or positioning operation, the operator next. through the medium of a foot treadle, (notshown) pulls a rod 36. (Fig. 3) down wardly,- thereby causing devices presently to be described to effect a sharp and quick downward movement of the carriage 5 and the adjusted stamping wheel 6, followed by a restoration of said parts to .their normal positions again. This movement of the car riage 5, as will be clear, impresses upon the bend B the character of ing stamping position.

When the carriage 5 reaches its lower most position, the latch 25 carried by the upper end of the carriage 5 will occupy a position below the dog 29 and also below the shoulder 27 carried by thefeeler 21 consequently the latch spring 37 will move said latch 25 toward the right, (Fig. 7 into a position beneath the shoulder 27. It will therefore be clear that when the carriage 5 is restored to its normal elevated position, the.

latch 25, moving with said carriage, will lift the feeler 21 back to its normal position again. During this return movement of the feeler 21. its rack 20 acts through the pinion 19 to restore the arm 16, and parts controlled by the latter, to theinnormal positions again.

At the time the carriage 5 moves upwardly.

carrying the latch 25 and feeler 21 with it. the dog 29 occupies a position in the path of the end of the latch 25, but being pivot ally connected to the lever 30 the dog 29 is idly swung upward on its pivot. As soon as bend B is removed from the machine and the lever 30 is restored to its normal position by the spring 34. the dog 29 drops off from the top of the latch and falls by gravity into its normal position shown in Fig. 7 ready for another operation.

the wheel 6 occupy" The carriage .5 is a comparatively heavy block of metal formed with a cavity 38. (Figs. 1, 3, and 5) within which is located a carriage lifting and dropping cam 39 fast on the inner end of a shaft 40 journalled on the cross head 4. At'its outer rear end t e shaft 40 carries apinion 41 outside of t e machine frame, driven through gears and 43, by a gear 44 loosely mounted upon a stud shaft 45 projecting from the frame of the machine, (Figs. 3, 8, and 9). The gear 44 is provided upon one face thereof with teeth 46 making it one member of a clutch, the other member of said clutch being a gear 47 provided upon one face with teeth 48 co-operating with the teeth 46. The gear 47 is driven continuously by a gear 49 fast'on the main shaft 50-01: the machine. The gear'44 is formed with a chamber to receive a coil spring 51 (Fig. 9) which yieldingly urges said gear toward the gear 47 but normally the gear 44 is held out of engagement with the gear 47 by a cam 52 that co-operates with a stud 53 projectinginto the chamber from gear 44. The cam 52 is part of a lever 54 (Figs. 3, 4) 'pivotally supported at 55 on the frame of the machine ing wit and yieldin ly urgedtoward gear 44 by a spring 56. This lever 54 is provided with a spring ressed latch abutment 57 co-operatan arm 58 fast on a rock shaft 59. This rock shaft extends through the frame of the machine to the front side. thereof,

' where it is provided with an arm 60. to which the rod 36 is connected.

It will now be clear that when the operator depresses the treadle (not shown) the latter acts through the r0d36, arm 60, rock shaft 59, and arm 58 to swing the lever 54 on its pivot in a direction to disengage the cam 52 from the stud 53. Thereupon the spring '51 slides the gear 44 axially on stud shaft 45 ll'ltQ clutching engagement with the continuously rotating gear 47 When the gears 44 and 47 are thus coupled together said gear 44 acts through the gears 43, 42 and 41 to rotate the shaft 40 and cam 39 in a counter-clockwise direction, viewed in Figs. 1, 3 and 5.

The cam 39 for lifting and dropping the carriage consists of a mutilated flange of substantially semi-circular form engaging a shoulder 61 on cam is rotated, the flange momentarily passes out of engagement with the shoulder 61, whereupon a spring 62 (Figs. 7 and 8), acting through a lever 5 downwardly carrying the stamping wheel 6 into engagement with the bend B onthe work rest 1. Continued rotary movement of the cambrings the other end of the-flange back into engagement with the shoulder 61, thereby lifting the carriage 5 back to its normal elevated position at the completion of which the stud 53, ig. 9) re-engages the cam 52- with the result that the gear 44 is shifted out of clutching engagement wit its driving gear 47 In order to prevent the gear 44 from making more than one revolution each time the rod 36 is operated, I provide a lever 64 (Figs. 4 and 8) fulcrumed on the stud shaft 65 of gear 43, one arm of said lever co-operating with a laterally extending projection 66 at the upper end of the latch abutment 57, and the other arm thereof co-operatingwith a wrist pin 67 projecting from one face of the gear 41. These parts are constructed and p0 arranged sothat immediately afterthe gear 44 has been started by clutching it. to gear 47, the wrist pin 67 acts through the lever 64 to lift the latch abutment 57 out of engagement with the arm 58 thereby permit ting the spring 56 to restore the .lever 54 to its normal posltion'w-ith the cam 52 in the I path of the stud 53. Thereafter, when the .gear 44 completes a single revolution, moving in a clockwise direction,

(Fig. 3) its stud 53 engages the cam" 52 and the latter shifts said gear 44 out of engagement with the gear 47. Thus for. each depression of the rod 36 a stampmg stroke of the-carriage is the carriage 5. When the 63 thrusts the carriage nal shape of the hide.

automatically effected, and only .one such stroke can occur notwithstanding the operator neglects to take his foot off the treadle which operates rod 36.

In order that the stamping wheel shall be accurately positioned and positively held against any tendency to continue rotation or to vibrate at the moment of marking, said wheel is provided with an annular row of wedge-like shoulders or projections 68 upon one face thereof, which co-operate with a fixed projection 69, (Figs. 5 and 6) extending downward from cross head 4. It follows from this construction that when the stamp ing wheel is in elevated position the projections 68 and 69 are disengaged but when the Wheel is moved downward to make its mar ing stroke the projection 69 will engage one pair or another of the shoulder 68 and lock the wheel in position to prevent the possibility of impressing a blurred mark or parts of two marks. No claim is herein made for this specific 1,477,633 granted to me December 18, 1923. Upon the front side of the upright 3 there is provided a stop or gage 70 which through its engagement .with the longitudinal cut edge of the bend B determines the distance from said edge of the spotdetectedby feeler 21 and of the location of the stamp impression made by the wheel 6.

One end of a bend of leatheris bordered by a comparatively straigh edge produced by the cut which separates the shoulder, while the opposite bend is of irregular shape, being the origi- Therefore it is desirable, in order accuratelyto locate the point bend by .the stamping wheel, to provide a gage7 1 at the right hand end of the work.

rest 1, and a similar gage 72 at the opposite end of the work rest 1. Thus, by placing the forward comparatively straight end edge of a right hand bend against thegage 71, and then-shoving the bend inwardly against the gage 7 O to operate the lever 30 as above described, the feeler 21 will engage the bend at the selected point, that is, at the proper int with respect to the edges 73 and 74 of the bend B. When operating upon a left hand bend, the end gage 72 is used in.- stead of the gage 71. It is desirable to pro vide right and left hand end gages for positioning the bend as described in order that all of the stamping,"both on rights and lefts,

may be made upon the hair or grain side of the bend.

I claim:

1. A gradin machine comprising a feeler to detect the t ickness 'of a selected spot of the material to be graded, means normally to hold the feeler in inoperative position, means operated by the insertion of the matethe bend from end of the of the feeler.

2. A grading machine comprising a feelerto detect the thickness of a selected spot of the material to be graded, means normally to hold the feeler in inoperative position, means operated by the insertion of the material into the machine to move the feeler into detecting engagement with the material, a marker normally held in inoperative position, mechanism responsive to the operation of the feeler to adjust the marker in accOrd-ance' with the thickness detection, and means to move the adjusted marker into contact with the material to be graded.

3. A grading machine comprising a feeler to detect the thickness of a selected spot of the material to be graded, means normally 'to hold the :t'eeler in inoperative position,

means operated by the insertion of the material into the machine to move the feeler into detecting engagement with the material, a marker normally held in inoperative position, mechanism responsive to the operation of the feeler to adjust the marker in accordance with the thickness detection, means to move the adjusted marker into contact with the material to be graded, and means to restore both the feeler and the marker to their normal positions,

4. A grading machine comprising a feeler' to detect the thickness of a selected spot of the material to be graded but normally held in inoperative position, grade-marking means also normally held in inoperative position but adjustable while in inoperative position in response to the thickness detecting operation of the feeler, means operated by the insertion of the material into the machine for actuating the feeler, independent means for thereafter actuating the grade-marking means, and means thereafter to restore the feeler and the grademarklng means together to normal position.

5. A grading machine comprising a feeler to detect the thickness of a selected spot of the material to be graded but normally held in inoperative position, grade-marking means also normally held in inoperative position but adjustable while in inoperative position in response to the thicknessdetecting operation of the feeler, meansco'ntrolled by a member actuated by the insertion of t c material into the machine foractuating the feeler, and independent means for thereafter actuating the grade-marking means.

6. A grad" g machine comprisin afeeler to detect the thickness of a selecte spot of the material to be graded but normally held in inoperative position, grade-marking means also normally held in inoperative positign but adjustable while in inoperative position in response to the thickness detecting operation of the feeler, means for actuating the feeler, and independent means under the control of the operator for thereafter actuating the grade-marking means.

t. A grading machine comprising a feeler normally held in inoperative position, means operated by the insertion of the material into the machine to move the feeler into detecting engagement with the material to be graded, a movable carriage having an adjustable marker thereon normally heldin inoperative position, setting mechanism rcsponsive to the feeler for adjusting the marker in accordance with the detecting operation of the feeler, and means to actuate the carriage to move the adjusted marker into contact with the material.

, 8. A grading machine comprising a feeler, a carriage having mounted thereon a marker adjustable in response to the feeler, said feeler and carriage being movable independ-- ently to make their operative strokes, and means to-couple the feeler and carriage together for their return stroke. a

9. A grading machine comprising a feeler normally held in inoperative position, means controlled by the insertion of the material to be graded into the machine to move the feeler into detecting engages ment with the material to be, graded, a movable carriage having an adjustable marker thereon normally held in inoperative position, setting mechanism responsive to the feeler for adjusting the marker in accordance with the detecting operation of the feeler, and means under the control of the operator to actuate the carriage to move the adjusted marker into contact with the material.

, 10. A grading machine comprising a feeler normally held in inoperative position, means controlled by the insertion of the material to be graded into the machine to move the feeler into detecting engagement with the material to be graded, a movable carriage having an adjustable marker thereon normally held in inoperative position, setting mechanism responsive to the feelerfor adjusting the marker in accordance with the detecting operation of'the feeler, means under the control of the operator to actuate the carriage to move the adjusted marker into contact with the material, and means to restore the feeler and marker together to normal position.

11. A machine for grading bends and the like comprisin a work rest, a cross head above the ,wor rest, a vertically movable feeler mounted on the cross head, spring actuated means to move the feeler into detecting engagement with the work, a vertically movable carriage also mounted on the cross head, spring actuated means to move the carriage downward, means normally holding the carriage in elevated position, a detent on the carriage adapted normally to hold the feeler in inoperative position, an adjustable marker mounted on the carriage, setting mechanism responsive to the operation of the feeler for adjusting the marker, a member adapted to be actuated by the insertion of the material to be graded for releasing the detent and permitting the feeler to operate, and power driven mechanism adapted to withdraw the means which holds the carriage in elevated position, thus permitting the carriage and marker to descend to mark the work and to re-engage the detent with the feeler, said power driven mechanism being also adapted thereafter to restore said carriage, marker and feeler together to their normal inoperative position.

' said power 12. A. grading machine comprising a feeler to, detect the thickness of a selected spot of the material to be graded but nor mally held in inoperative position, a grade marker also normally held in inoperative position but adjustable while in inoperative position in response to the thickness detectthe feeler, means for actu-V ing operation of ating the feeler, independent power driven mechanism 1 for thereafter actuating the grade marker, means under the control of the operator for initiating the operation of driven mechanism, and means for automatically stopping the operationof said power driven mechanism after a operating stroke of the grade marker.

Signed by me at Manchester, New Hampshire, this 17th day of April, 1924. LEANDERA. COGSWELL.

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